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I have a BS in chem. Then was doing my masters for 2 1/2 years but could not complete my thesis due to my non-cooperative supervisor. I have 6 credits of masters (course work related). Then I went and got a BEd. Taught for 3 years in high school (chem). But teaching is incredibly stressful not to mention, you get abused everyday by students, parents as well as administrators. Have to put in 8-10 hours of work everyday but you are not learning anything new. I now want to go back to working as a chemist. But I am finding it very difficult to even find a $12-13 hr lab technician job because I have no QC experience. I am in Canada, Toronto BTW.
I don't know what to do...Should I go back to complete my masters or I am thinking of doing something in health-care (not likely to get outsourced) like physician assistant or nursing. Any advice? Oh BTW I am 32.
BTW I am afraid that even if do PA or nursing, by the time I graduate there might be an over-supply of these things also because health care seems to be only field which cannot get outsourced so all people are clamoring there.
BTW I do not care too much about the pay (as long as it is decent) and I have a stable job and it is intellectually stimulating.
Seems like PA is getting more common...aren't they doing some of the work that doctors used to do?
RN seems to be a strong demand and likely to stay that way.
Nurse Practioner seems to be doing a lot of what a General Practioner did years ago. Not sure what the main difference between PA and NP is...I guess NP writes RXs...not sure what else.
But any of these seem like the demand would be great. RN probably makes less money than the others, but there are probably a lot more RNs. RNs can make very good salaries anyway. Various subspecialties can pay more or less, I think. Like Nurse Anesthesiologist makes a very good salary. That might be a good match for you with your chemistry background.
It might be easier to transition into a physician assistant's program than a nursing program. You'll probably have to start from the beginning to become an RN and work your way up to an MSN just to be at the same level as a physician's assistant. All you need for a physician's assistant's program are the science prerequisites.
^^^Correct, you must be a RN before obtaining MSN.
PAs have a very high degree of responsibility, including some diagnostic duties, prescriptions etc. Some specialize.... ie orthopedic PAs assist in surgery and perform some in-office procedures.
A good choice but remember, this is a patient-oriented job of course...you will be exposed to a wide variety of people from all walks of life, many of whom are quite sick or injured in some way. You need to love working long hrs, fast-paced workday and medical
teamwork.
All you need for a physician's assistant's program are the science prerequisites.
Not necessarily. Most schools require quite a bit of health care experience (minimum at most schools is 1000 hours, but you're competing against people with 10,000+ hours who come from nursing/paramedic type backgrounds). The fancier schools (Yale, GWU, etc.) also require the GRE. And PA school has gotten so popular it's starting to become almost as competitive as some Medical Schools.
While for the OP, PA is probably the most stable/lucrative route, it's not as easy as meeting some science pre-reqs and filling out an application.
I would start as an RN then move to PA-it may be more schooling but Fiyero is right-PA schools require at least 1000 hours of healthcare experience. I have reaearched healthcare careers because I'm getting ouy of my career-I'm burned out and sick of being treated like crap.
Not necessarily. Most schools require quite a bit of health care experience (minimum at most schools is 1000 hours, but you're competing against people with 10,000+ hours who come from nursing/paramedic type backgrounds). The fancier schools (Yale, GWU, etc.) also require the GRE. And PA school has gotten so popular it's starting to become almost as competitive as some Medical Schools.
While for the OP, PA is probably the most stable/lucrative route, it's not as easy as meeting some science pre-reqs and filling out an application.
I don't see why the entrance requirements for a PA program would need to be any different than medical school. Medical schools don't require any health care experience or even a health/science related degree. They actually prefer students from a variety of backgrounds. There is a university where I live that considers health care experience for admissions, but it's not required. It also considers other things like bilingualism and race/ethnicity. They're just factors that could help, not requirements.
While you might be right about the fancier schools requiring health care experience, I'm sure there are plenty of others that don't require it. I never implied that you don't need good test scores, good grades, or volunteer hours. Those things should be automatically assumed for just about any graduate program. Even most of the not-so-fancy schools require the GMAT, GRE, MAT, LSAT, MCAT, etc for a variety of degree programs.
Sigh...I guess I'll post this AGAIN...there is no nursing shortage, becoming an RN will not get you a job unless you are willing to relocate often to rural areas and btw RN's can become Nurse Practitioners and they have much more autonomy than a PA.
I'd also suggest going to the allnurses forum and read all about becoming a nurse.
Nursing is a very very tough gig.
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